“Leave it, it’s okay, one of the guests will get it. They’re all lolling around on the deck, anyway. It’ll be for them, no doubt.”
Then it went again. “Look, you get on with that”—Amber indicated the pots on the stove—“and I’ll answer the door.”
Amber was glad she’d come—her own frustrations had been forgotten under the influence of Flo’s good news. She whistled as she half-skipped down the hallway and flung open the door. The figure standing before her was a little aloof, standing back, filling in the doorway with a dark shadow. But she knew that shadow. Under the close-cropped beard was the good looking brother she hadn’t seen in five years.
“Rob?”
“Little sister. I didn’t expect to see you here.” With one large hand he hooked her towards him and gave her a bear hug. She’d forgotten how cuddly he was.
“Rob! I can’t believe it’s you! What on earth are you doing here? We thought you were coming next month. And what are you doinghere, here, I mean?” She cast a look over her shoulder to see if Flo was anywhere near, but she wasn’t. Amber closed the door behind her. “What are you doing on Flo’s doorstep?” She didn’t need to add that Flo was the woman he’d gone out with for years, before he’d broken her heart and left the country.
But it wasn’t the same Rob who’d left New Zealand three years earlier. This Rob not only looked taller and broader somehow, but there was something different in his eyes.
Amber could hear the footsteps approaching. It was Flo, coming ever closer.
“Thought I’d better come and find out what’s keeping you,” said Flo, just as she was about to round the corner. “Who—”
The words were snatched from Flo’s mouth as if she were winded, as she set eyes on Rob.
Amber’s heart sank. “It’s Rob,” she said, belatedly.
“I think she can see that,” said Rob, stepping forward. “How are you, Flo?”
Flo was as white as a sheet. She moved her mouth to begin speaking, but nothing emerged. Then she shook her head, more definitely. She licked her lips as if to help her speak. “How am I?”
“Yes, it’s been a while, and I want to know how you are.”
“I’m…”
Amber held her breath, keeping her fingers crossed behind her back, hoping against hope that her dearest friend and her long-lost brother would make up, would put an end to the hostilities which had seen him depart for the other side of the world without a word. Not that Flo had written to Rob, either. Amber considered they were both as bad as each other.
“I’m busy,” said Flo abruptly. And without saying a further word, she turned around and walked quickly out of the house. Rob’s eyes followed Flo, lingering on the place he’d last seen her, when they both heard the back door slam.
“She’s busy?” asked Rob, turning back to Amber.
Amber shrugged. “Flo is always busy. If she’s not in the house, trying to keep on top of its maintenance, she’s entertaining visitors, putting on music evenings—you know how much she loves music—or she’s out in the garden. You know how much she loves the garden.”
Rob gave a short nod. “Yeah.” He’d barely smiled since she’d seen him. His mouth was a stern line and, not for the first time, Amber wondered what on earth had happened to him to turn him from a fun-loving youth to a stern, no-nonsense man. “I know how much she loves a lot of things, except me.”
Amber looked up at her big brother, who she used to idolize, and couldn’t believe he could be so stupid as to let someone like Flo slip through his fingers. “She used to, you know.”
He closed his eyes briefly as if she’d taken a shot at him and had found her target. Apparently there was still a place of tenderness hidden away in the macho man who was her closest sibling. “No, I didn’t know. She never said anything, despite…” He trailed off, apparently unable to say what he wanted to say to her. It made her heart ache. They’d used to be so close. He was always the first person she’d look for if she needed a cuddle, reassurance, or to know what to do. When Rob had left New Zealand out of the blue, it had hit the whole family hard, but it had devastated Amber. It had been shortly after that she’d accepted the lift from the boy she barely knew. Not that she could blame Rob for that. But that was a long time ago. She’d definitely changed and so maybe had Rob.
“You should go and see her,” said Amber. “Have a chat.”
“A chat? It didn’t look much like she wanted to chat with me.”
“Oh, I’m sure she does, it’s just…” Amber drifted into silence. She couldn’t think what to say without telling him the plain, unadulterated truth.
“Just?”
“Just that she’s angry with you for walking out on her.”
For a moment he looked as if he were about to say something, then he clamped his lips together into that firm line from which Amber knew nothing would be emerging. She didn’t know what the hell had happened between Rob and Flo, only that Rob had left Flo broken-hearted. And Amber’s hopeful heart now hoped that they could resolve their differences.
He nodded, and looking decisive, followed Flo outside.
Amber watched her brother go. They were two good people, and she so hoped that they would get back together again. But she knew that Rob had a lot of groveling to do to make that happen.
